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Your guide to making a costume. It covers the basic materials needed to achieve an
authentic looking CATS costume.
The number one, most important building block to a CATS costume:
The unitard: A unitard is
a full body suit, that zips up the back. They come in all lengths and neck
lines, but a CATS costume needs one with long sleeves,long legs, and a high neck
. A few of the cats in the show have scoop necklines,but most have mock
turtlenecks. For this you will need a "long sleeved, mock turtle neck unitard." Look for the Bal-Togs label.
Unitards come in a variety of fabrics. Usually they are either cotton/lycra
or nylon/lycra. Cotton/lycra is very soft and has a matte finish. It holds fabric
dye and dye pens well, and is the material of choice for most of the costumes.
Nylon/lycra is smoother and shinier, and almost has a glittery quality to it. It
does not hold dye very well, but is warmer than cotton/lycra.
Leg warmers:
On your arms, or on your legs, leg warmers are
a constant on a CATS costume. Not only will they keep your muscles warm between
dances, they also keep you warm on those sprints to the mall doors! If you need
to paint or dye these, it is best that you buy them in cotton (they also come in
acrylic). You will hear references to "short" and "long" warmers. Short for arms, long
for legs. In catalogs, short warmers are usually around 12' long. Long warmers
about 17' or 18'. To find out which are right for you, measure your arm from
wrist to elbow; and your leg from ankle to knee. Compare your measurements to the
warmer sizes, and pick what's closer (round up in doubt).
Warmers with stirrups are a big help. Stirrups are holes or bands of material
at the foot of the warmer. You can slip these over the heels of your shoes, and your
warmers will stay on without you adjusting them every five minutes. I strongly recommend these.
Coloring:
In many instances, a costume needs some color,
and an easy way to deal with this has been discovered. Some people would advise
you to color your unitard with fabric paints (like Tulip paints), but that leaves
the fabric stiff and shiny (yuck). Some would reccomend RIT dye, that is messy
and time consuming, and definitely not foolproof. But, at almost any craftstore
(i.e. Michael's) special dye pens can be bought. They come in myriads of colors,
and are clean and easy to work with. When you mark on any fabric, it dyes right
where you colored. After 24 hours it's permanent. They also blend well together
right on the fabric. I also recommend these, they can be used on your wig as well.
Get a bunch of each color that you need, you will probably be using them for
almost everything on you costume.
Wigs:
This is the tricky part. There is a wig that's perfect for CATS. I have only
been able to find it in a certain dancewear catalog (ADA Discount Dancewear). It
is called the Japanese Beast Wig. Comes in white, perfect. Can be trimmed to
fit your character. Comfortable, and looks really nice, colored easily with the
dye pens. You can also use the 'Cats' wig by RUBIES.
Shoes:
Any type of fuzzy slippers would do, but you'll be happier if you can find some
cheap ballet shoes or dance boots. The actual cast of CATS uses dance boots by
Capezio. They come in white and tan, and paint up with fabric paints real nice
(Capezio Gold Dance Boots).
Tail:
Measure from your back from the very top of your butt, to just above your ankles.
Get a piece of soft nylon rope that length, and burn the ends to lock them.
You will need to sew yarn in your colors onto the tail from the end all the way
to the top. Then sew a loop in the top of the rope, and thread a cord through
so you can tie it around your waist.
